


Saving a life

by Rogercat



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blood Donation, Children, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Elia Martell Fanworks Week, Elia Martell-centric, Eventual Romance, F/M, Female Character of Color, Horses, Hospitalization, Motherhood, Not For Rhaegar Fans, Post-Divorce, Remarriage, Riding, second love, show jumping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 21:55:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20749376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogercat/pseuds/Rogercat
Summary: Elia could have died, had it not been for a stranger with the same rare blood type as her own





	Saving a life

City of Sunspear, Dorne: 

Oberyn turned off the car radio the moment the speaker mentioned the Targaryen name and its collapsed company. 

“Really, are the trial of that _ dimwit _ still something that interests people six months after it happened?” he muttered after a quick look on his sister and niece in the backseat. 

Six months earlier, Rhaegar Targaryen had been sentenced to twenty years in prison for kidnapping and impregnate the underage Lyanna Stark, as well for bribing people at a sperm bank to let him come inside and make him the sperm donor instead of the original donors. Since there was no way to know how many women had gotten his sperms instead of the planned ones, a lot of the parents had also sued Rhaegar when it came out in the news. 

“Of course it is a such great scandal, when it all started after that I separated from him with the help of the marriage contract our family had insisted on him to sign before the wedding.” 

Elia had used the contact to get a legal divorce, when Rhaegar had not followed the doctor's' instructions that Elia could conceive again without any risks for her own health only in three years, since the birth of Rhaenys had left her on bedrest for six months. But he had believed himself above such instructions, and used a sleeping pill in her evening tea to ensure that she could not protest against him. She had realized what had happened the next morning, and called her brothers to take her and Rhaenys away from the Targaryen mansion at once. 

The divorce had been done only three days later, but when Elia realized that she indeed had became pregnant again, her already poor health did not allow a abortion because of the great risk of that it could turn into a internal bleeding without help from the doctors. Instead she had signed up to have a tubal ligation in conjunction with the planned Caesarean section for the birth of her son, as a normal birth was too risky with Rhaenys being born only fifteen months earlier. 

“Well, here we are, Elia. Hopefully you can return home from the hospital in a few days.” 

“Hospital?” Rhaenys wondered, as her uncle helped her out from the babyseat and carrying Elia's bag with clothes for both her and the baby, and a few necessary things to have. 

“Mama will be with the doctors over the weekend, Rhaenys, and you will sleep over at uncle Doran until that I comes home. You would only be bored with mama needing to rest in bed all day.” 

Elia was very grateful for that she had been able to move back into the castle of Sunspear, where her brothers were able to help her recover from a marriage that had not turned out so well, especially with a toddler and another child to join her little family. 

“Well, Aegon. Tomorrow you will arrive into the world, and join me and Rhaenys. With some luck, that daydreamer who sired you...will never know that you were born until that it is far too late. You should be nineteen by the time he have a chance to get out of jail. I do not know if I will remarry due to getting burnt by my marriage to him, but I promise to be there for you and Rhaenys for as long as I can be,” Elia said tenderly, stroking her heavy pregnant belly. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

It was rare for Théodred to take part in competitions outside Rohan and Gondor, but he was a member of the national team this year and was going to do his best to get Rohan to win the international horse jumping games. 

“ _ And the winner of today is Théodred Eorl! _ ”

Dorne was a land he never had been visiting before, and it was noticeable more south than Gondor, yet he did not want to admit defeat.

“Well, son. You have earned a treat tonight for this victory. Shall we try out some of the local food instead of eating at the hotel restaurant tonight...” 

“Why not, father….Watch out!” 

Théodred managed to push Théoden out of the way so both avoided the runaway horse, but as a result he fell right into the side of a horse trailer to the right. 

“Théodred!” 

The worried groom, who had managed to catch the bay gelding before it got further away, apologized for what had happened. 

“Ow, my head…” 

Théodred did not feel like he had gotten a concussion from the hit, but agreed with his father it was for the best that he visited a hospital to see that there would not be any damage. Otherwise he would not be able to take part of the finals tomorrow. 

  
  


Elia's Caesarean section was scheduled for the afternoon. So far, it had gone well to get little Aegon out, and a nurse took him away to be cleaned and weighed while the doctors fixed her tubal ligation. 

“Oh no!” 

Only that a internal bleeding started unexpectedly, and worse, there was not enough blood left in the bags with donated blood. It did not exactly help that Elia happened to be a rare blood type. 

“Check if there is anyone who can give blood directly to miss Martell, or she will die from the bleeding! Hurry!” 

  
  


There had thankfully been no damage on his head after the hit earlier, and the the nurse told Théodred to simple take it easy that evening and he should be fine by the coming morning. 

But when father and son was about to leave the hospital, a a message was heard in the speakers: 

“ _ We need someone with blood type AB-negative to register at the expedition immediately! Emergency Situation with direct blood donation is needed in one of the operating rooms! _ ”

Théodred glared at his father to indirectly tell what he was planning, and then rushed over to the expedition to tell the nurses that he had that blood type. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

“....Elia! Elia!” 

She blinked a few times to clean her view, and Oberyn became visible for her, his face all worried. 

“Oberyn…?” 

Her throat was so dry that she could only whisper. 

“Oh, thank the seven that you are awake, sweet sister. We would have lost you to a internal bleeding in the middle of the operation, have there not been anyone here at the hospital who could donate blood directly to you.”

Elia felt cold at hearing what he said. Had the Stranger tried to claim her life again, like under the first days after giving birth to Rhaenys? 

“Aegon…?” 

A wail from a cradle at her bed told where her son was. 

“Yes, yes, nephew. You want to meet your mama now when she woke up, right?” 

Oberyn gently picked up his nephew in his arms so she could see her son. Aegon had the silver blonde hair of the Targaryen, and there was no telling which colour his eyes would be, but otherwise he looked very alike the Martells. 

“Oh, look, there is a image from the horse jumping competition now on the evening news.”

Elia turned on her head to see better. 

“Can you change the tv channel to show the competition tomorrow? Horses are more fun to watch than any of those boring soap dramas that I never have liked anyway. And it is nice to see the riders who are from foreign countries, too.” 

“Sure.” 

A nurse came in to check on Elia, and then helped her to feed Aegon. Her son had gotten some donated colostrum in a baby bottle as his first meal due to that Elia had needed the donated blood before the operation could be finished, but now afterwards she could feed her son with her own milk. 

  
  


The next day, Théodred was still feeling somewhat weak from donating so much blood to the Dornish woman who could have lost her life otherwise. Even after eating a big breakfast with food that was rich in iron and folic acid along with drinking lots of water, his fatigue could not really be hidden. He was noticeable pale in the face after mounting his gelding, which worried Théoden. 

“My son, you can still back out with the blood donation as a legal excuse. Do not take a risk that could end badly.” 

But there was no time for another rider of the team to take his place. Théodred's name was called out. 

“I will try and not faint, at least.”

It was all he could promise, before riding out. 

  
  


In her hospital room, Elia made time pass by watching the competition. She was honestly impressed by how Théodred managed to jump over the obstacles in such speed despite that it was clear even from a distance that he seemed a bit pale. 

“Oh, that is the man who donated blood to you yesterday, miss Martell!” the nurse said at seeing a close up of Théodred on screen. 

“Sweet of him...wait, what!? He competes even though he should actually rest for 24 hours after the donation?!” 

Now Elia could not take her eyes off from the tv screen, watching with great focus on how Théodred proved himself to be the winner of the finals and the whole international horse jumping games. 

“What a  ** _vigorous_ ** man….especially in contrast to that sorry excuse who fathered Rhaenys and Aegon…” 

Somehow, seeing Théodred manage something like this, felt like his donated blood gave her a energy boost all suddenly. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

When Aegon was fifteen months old and Rhaenys three years old, Elia got a invitation by her brothers to come along on a journey to Rohan. They hoped to buy some new horses to get new blood among the horse breeders in Dorne, and why not let their sister give a belated thank you to the man who basically had saved her life by donating blood. 

Her two children liked Théodred when he did not hesitate to play with them, which Elia was delighted to see since not all men liked small children. And when she was offered to share dinner with Théodred at a nearby restaurang one evening during the visit and found that they had a lot of things in common, Elia felt again like that Rhaegar had been nothing else than a daydreaming escapist from reality. 

“If you would like to stay for a longer time, I know a place where they rents out smaller homes for families with children.” 

  
  


As time passed, Théodred and Elia slowly fell in love. They married after four years, three years of dating and one year of engagement. For Rhaenys and Aegon, who had only known Théodred as their father figure, it was one of the finest days of their young lives when he officially adopted them as his own children. As Rhaegar basically had abandoned his small family after the the divorce from Elia before the whole scandal before his arrest and imprisonment, he had no rights to protest the adoption. 

Even as time passed over the years, Elia always found a reason to feel that her second marriage was superior to her first one. Besides, it felt special to know that her husband had saved her life, and preventing Rhaenys and Aegon from losing their mother, by the blood donation before they even had met for the first time. 


End file.
